[luvbach1]

Interesting. I have heard "professionals" say that a rifle such as Oswald used could have been fired with similar rapidity and accuracy by an expert rifleman. I believe tests proved this. Anyway, the bullets that struck Kennedy and Conally did not hit with pinpoint accuracy.

[mass55th]

"Interesting. I have heard "professionals" say that a rifle such as Oswald used could have been fired with similar rapidity and accuracy by an expert rifleman."

Most recently this, along with other questions pertaining to Oswald's movements after the shooting were recreated in an Unsolved History segment on the Discovery Channel. They proved that although the Italian carbine could sometimes prove unreliable, when it did function properly, the shots could have been fired accurately and within the time frame suggested by the Zapruder film. They also tested the theory of Oswald's dumping the rifle and getting to the 2nd floor lunch room within 90 seconds of the shooting. They had a man of the same weight and height as Oswald recreate the movements he made, and proved he could have stashed the weapon, walked down the stairs to the second floor lunch room within 90 seconds. Oswald was in the lunch room when he was confronted by a police officer. The officer later claimed that Oswald had not appeared flustered or out of breath. The man who recreated this scenario wasn't out of breath either and made it within the 90 seconds. They also recreated, using the same man, the possible routes taken by Oswald once he left his boarding house and headed to his confrontation with Officer Tippett. The program was very well done and well worth watching.

I record this series on a regular basis. They have tackled some other historical occurences of interest: Boston Massacre, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Custer's Last Stand, The Alamo, Pearl Harbor, etc. They use modern forensics techniques where applicable, and recreate the sites, sounds and physical attitributes of the places/incidents/people & items involved, that they are investigating. I highly recommend this series.

[VOA]

I have heard "professionals" say that a rifle such as Oswald used could have been
fired with similar rapidity and accuracy by an expert rifleman.

The FrontLine special noted (IIRC) that Oswald did a some target practice along a
river bank in the DFW metro area. (Not suprising...up till maybe 10-15 years ago,
lots of places in flyover country had "empty lots" or riverbanks where a lot shooters might
show up to practice.)

What I did like about the FrontLine show is that while they did build a good case for
the "Oswald, Lone Gunman, Lone Actor" scenario, they did admit that their investigation
did have gaps of time in which they couldn't account for Oswald's locations/association.

For a fair number of reasons, I keep an open mind on the issue.

But I've been to "the scene of the crime" in Dallas and my amateur marks-man
opinion is that fellow who'd qualified in the shooting dimension of US Marine Corps
boot camp, then practiced and got to really know the quirks/limitation of his
carbine...could have pulled off the 3 shots in about 8 seconds scenario.

And if Oswald truly did it, I suspect he was "grinning on the inside" at having
a good day of shooting, despite the first missed shot.